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Abstract

Observational and clinical studies suggest that dairy intake, particularly low-fat dairy, could have a beneficial effect on blood pressure. We performed a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies on dairy intake and risk of hypertension in the general population. A systematic literature search for eligible studies was conducted until July 2011, using literature databases and hand search. Study-specific dose-response associations were computed according to the generalized least squares for trend estimation method, and linear and piecewise regression models were created. Random-effects models were performed with summarized dose-response data. We included 9 studies with a sample size of 57 256, a total of 15 367 incident hypertension cases, and a follow-up time between 2 and 15 years. Total dairy (9 studies; range of intake, ≈100–700 g/d), low-fat dairy (6 studies; ≈100–500 g/d), and milk (7 studies; ≈100–500 g/d) were inversely and linearly associated with a lower risk of hypertension. The pooled relative risks per 200 g/d were 0.97 (95% CI, 0.95–0.99) for total dairy, 0.96 (95% CI, 0.93–0.99) for low-fat dairy, and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94–0.98) for milk. High-fat dairy (6 studies), total fermented dairy (4 studies), yogurt (5 studies), and cheese (8 studies) were not significantly associated with hypertension incidence (pooled relative risks of ≈1). This meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies suggests that low-fat dairy and milk could contribute to the prevention of hypertension, which needs confirmation in randomized controlled trials.